


Love Is Blinding

by Excaliburinthelakeonpage394



Category: Merlin (TV), Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: (Temporary) Major Character Death, Badass Warlocks, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Don't Drink Weird Potions Weirder Sorcerers Give You Guys, Dragonlord Merlin, Dragons, F/F, Gen, I should stop with the obscure references, M/M, Merlin is a pain in everyone's behind, Old Merlin - Freeform, Set in the Shadowhunter world, Slightly complicated Magic, Things are explained later I promise, Today is not a fun day for the Shadowhunters, Warlocks are Weird, a lotta hurt, but he means well, merlin is Emrys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-09-23 22:55:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9685571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Excaliburinthelakeonpage394/pseuds/Excaliburinthelakeonpage394
Summary: “We are more alike than you think,” he muttered.Magnus scoffed, “I doubt that,Emrys.”---Alec shot an unreadable look towards Magnus, then stepped into the portal with a huff.“He’ll come around,” Izzy said softly, “you just have…difficult old friends.”“Trust me, I know.” Magnus groaned.---“He literally doesn’t treat portals like normal warlocks do,” Magnus gasped, eyes wide as if this was something constantly bugging him. “It’s a pain! Makes the rest of us look bad.”---“Uh… Magnus?” Emrys called, “I think I broke your little half-angel toys…”Magnus started shouting profanity, but cut himself off before he’d even really started. “They’re not ‘my toys’,” he snapped.---Magnus has an unexpected guest. Everything goes downhill from there. Just how much troublecantwo warlocks and three shadowhunters get into?[BEING EDITED!]





	1. Two Warlocks

**Author's Note:**

> Tags will be added with the chapters, please read the tags for warnings (it gets dark later on)  
> This does not follow canon; set in the Shadowhunter world (tv show slightly over books sorry, I've not finished reading the series yet!); don't you need to know Merlin, but there ARE spoilers for BBC Merlin. (Which, if you haven't seen yet, what are you doing? Go watch it! I cannot explain how good and pure that show is. It's only 65 episodes!)
> 
> Check the tags because I sort of remade some of the rules of their worlds... (hey, there's nothing in canon to say this _isn't_ possible)
> 
> All mistakes are mine. I wrote most of this in one sitting and I've read it so many times I've started missing the mistakes so please tell me if I've messed anything and I'll fix it!
> 
> EDIT:  
> Hey guys! So I've rewritten ALL of this, and my laptop died while I was on holiday, so I've lost all my work (hence the lack of updating lately), I'm planning on re-uploading the chapters to this, and quite a lot has changed, but there's also lots that's stayed the same. Thank you, everyone who's read it, and everyone who is reading it!  
> Mistakes are still mine, especially tenses, I suck at getting them right, so apologies.  
> Please check out some of my other works, and remember; comments are love, and feed the plot bunnies!

“We are more alike than you think,” he muttered, back facing the, increasingly, pissed-off warlock.

  Magnus scoffed, turning wide eyes to his… comrade? Co-worker? “I doubt that, __Emrys__.”

  Now Emrys turned, expression thoughtful, “why do you doubt it?”

  He scoffed again, unable to help himself. Simply the __notion__ wasridiculous! “ _ _Because__ , although I am __a__ warlock, you’re __the__  warlock. Besides, you’re an old cad and I’m-”

  “Also an old cad?” he smirked, eyes twinkling.

  “Ha-ha,” Magnus dead-panned, his face twisted in a frown.

  Then the (much) older warlock turned serious once more. “Just humour the thought a moment. We’re both warlocks; we’re both immortal; we’re both __far__  older than we care to admit; we’ve both lost people we loved more than anything-”

  “ _ _Yours comes back!__ ”

  “-and,” he continued, as if he hadn’t been interrupted, “we’re both pining after young men, who’ll probably never admit their feelings for us, short of a miracle.” __That__  was obviously a poke at Magnus’ attempts at flirting with the Lightwood boy - attempts that hadn’t gone unnoticed, apparently.

  “Oh, go meditate in the woods for another hundred years, or __whatever__ it is that you do in the decades between these little visits, Emrys,” Magnus half-snapped - that had been a _low_ blow - stomping away from his unwanted, __uninvited__  house-guest. “Why are you even __here__? Do you have a reason? Or do you simply __enjoy__ turning up, at random points in my life, just to annoy me?”

  “Because it’s time,” Ermys sighed, cryptically.

  Magnus didn’t know if he was more annoyed at Emrys’ habits of talking in riddles, or that he actually paid enough attention to the others’ ramblings, that he __knew__ what the warlock was on about.

  “I’ll be around for a while until I… _ _find him__ , and then we’ll get out of your hair, I give you my word. Unless I can’t persuade him and then… then I don’t know…” he mumbled, face turning grave, his gaze drifting, staring at nothing as he fell into his mind. As was a habit of his, these last centuries.

  Magnus remembered the incident Emrys was thinking of, too clearly. It was a few centuries ago, at the time Emrys’ man (Magnus still hadn’t found out __who__  this man …is? …Was?) had returned, which was nothing new. Except this time, when Emrys had finally found him, he was already married. The warlock remembered, in __excruciating__ detail, how he’d comforted his fellow warlock for the next __month.__  Emrys had been unable to get the man to leave with him, to even give him a chance to explain. He disappeared after that month; a decade or two later he was sat on Magnus’ sofa. Acting; as if it hadn’t been a lifetime for some people, as if nothing had ever happened. A traitorous thought crossed Magnus’ mind then; _ _‘how would I feel if Alec disappeared for a hundred years and then returned, only to fall in love with someone else, before I could find him again?’__  

  “You’ll find him,” Magnus reassured instantly, words leaving his lips without a thought, moving to pour them both something __strong__. “You __will__ , Emrys. You find __me,__  decade after decade, don’t you? No matter the wards I put up.” He handed him a drink paired with a sympathetic look he couldn’t fight off. A realisation dawned on him, not one he wasn’t well aware of, but something that caught him off guard in that moment. “We’re old, Emrys…”

  He laughed bitterly, “one of us older than the other.”

  Magnus squinted slightly, realising he didn’t know __how__ old the warlock was. (Not that he was about to ask. That’d just be rude. He may not like the warlock particularly, but he wasn’t about be __that__  rude; he respected Emrys, in the least.)

  “I still disagree with your statement; we’re not that similar.”

  Emrys turned tired, weary eyes, to the younger warlock, “oh, if only you knew how wrong you are…” His voice was quiet - quieter than usual.

  The soft, comfortable silence that slipped between them, was only broken when the other warlock jerked, as if burnt. As Magnus’ eyes grew wide, he watched the other, barely-man, sit up, down his drink, change the subject and refill his glass; all in the space of a breath.

  “ _ _So__ ,” he drawled, in a tone Magnus guessed was his attempt at casual. The warlock probably hasn’t had a casual conversation in over 200 years. “Men, huh?”

  Magnus groaned, “are you seriously doing this?”

  “What?” he laughed, “that Torchwood boy is cute! Nice eyes. Nice  _ass_.”

  “How much have you had to drink?”

  “What?” he asked, eyes childishly wide.

  “Firstly, it’s __Lightwood__. And second… I hadn’t noticed,” Magnus sniffed, clutching his glass closer to his chest in a subconscious, defensive move.

  “Uh __huh__ ,” Emrys drawled, with a look.

  “Besides, tell me about __your__ mystery man,” he suggested, changing the subject as quickly as he could. “ _ _How__ long have we been doing this dance? And I’ve still not met him? __Including__  that… _ _retreat__ on the Honeymoon island in the- … _ _whenever__  it was. Tish-tosh - uh, as you would say.” Magnus glared into his drink for a moment, angry at himself. Was __he__  drunk? He felt a little drunk… He hadn’t had __that__ much to drink, surely?

  “Uh! You swore __never__ to mention Honeymoon again!” Emrys sputtered, blushing a __deep__  red.

  “Memories are memories,” he shrugged, a grin playing on the corner of his lips. “ _ _So!__ ” Magnus cried this time; loud and suddenly full of energy, “mystery man?”

  He may be old but his eyes still work as well as they always have; Magnus saw every inch of Emrys’ face fall. Immediately, he wished his curiosity wasn’t a cat. Emrys’ sad face killed him. Every time.

  “Uh, you don’t-”

  “No, it’s okay… I just don’t particularly fancy remembering someone who’s dead…”

  “With the risk of crossing a line,” Magnus started (albeit not a great way to start a conversation), leaning forward in his chair, “how exactly does that work? I’ve had a __lot__ of loves, ones I even thought were true loves - and they’ve never come back.”

  “That you know of,” Emrys answered absently, obviously thinking the question through a little more thoroughly. Magnus felt cold suddenly, and hoped that his past lovers __wouldn’t__ come back seeking revenge…

  “The story is a long one I don’t __particularly__ feel like sharing. But the gist of it is; he was destined to die in battle, by the strike of someone he once called friend. Someone we both once saved from a fate...as bad as they get for us. He didn’t die in the battle, but it was a close thing. A shard of the sword lodged in his chest, heading for his heart. Now, I didn’t know two things about healing magic then, and no matter what the physician in me tried, no matter the magic I tried, _nothing_ worked. He was still dying. I was told to take him to the Lake of Avalon. It was like something out of a dream. I often went there; in the years previously __and__ the years following.

  “I was told, if I could get him to the Lake of Avalon, the _Shide_ would take his soul and he would live a thousand years in their world. Not exactly the life I wanted for him, but I couldn’t let him die.” He sighed and Magnus felt tears well up in his own eyes.

  He was finally hearing the story that was the cause of so many years of hurt, and he hated himself for every time he’d thought ‘how could one man mean this much? Emrys should just move on and forget him, he’s being an idiot.’

  “We didn’t make it… His greatest enemy slowed our journey just a little too long. I cut her down... And this was only a day after he learnt of my magic…” Emrys stared at his hands, then met Magnus’ gaze. Both knew the problems, humans discovering their magic brought. “But he was so… down-heartedly relieved that they were finally stopped. That he wasn’t leaving those he cared about alone and unprotected… He always cared more for others than himself. When he finally lost consciousness, I called Kilgharrah.”

  Magnus remembers sketches of the Great Dragon, and stories Emrys had often told him while deeply intoxicated. The dragon was centuries old, and believed himself to be the last of his kind. _Oh, how wrong he had been._ The warlocks - _together_ \- had helped so many dragons. Emrys had to; he was the last Dragon Lord after all.

  “He took us to the Lake and… _ _oh__ , I’ll never forget how sad he was… I never thought I’d see him again.” Emrys chuckled lightly, “I saw him just a month after… But anyway. ‘My man’ - he… he died and I… Well I was a mess, but the _Shide_ still took him." He paused, forcing his face into a small smile, forcing himself to think of happier memories, "funny thing? They’d tried to forcefully take his soul a few years previously, but I stopped them…”

  Magnus blinked. “…That’s it? They just send his soul back every few hundred years? That seems a little-”

  Emrys chuckled lightly, “not quite. The _Shide_ are untrustworthy, but there are High Priestesses that control when he comes back. Though they’re not much better; they only send him back when they deem the world needs him.”

  The look on Emrys’ face made Magnus speak. “But __you__  need him.”

  “Yeah…” Emrys admitted, and smiled sadly.

  There was a moment of solace between them, one they hadn’t had for… Magnus’ eyebrows drew together as he realised it had been over four centuries - it’d been a lifetime for most people.

  “Emrys--” Magnus started, face contorted; how could he have missed this? But he didn’t get to even think his words of comfort, all the way through.

  “Are those what I think they are?” Emrys whispered, loudly.

  “ _ _Yes__ ,” Magnus groaned, just as the flashing lights were paired with blaring sirens. He shut the sound off with a flick of his wrist. “My wards have been broken. I’m being invaded - __again__.”

  He saw Emrys’ face twitch in his peripheral vision. “Oh, shut up, you know how much trouble Shadowhunters get us into!” he snapped quietly.

  “Yes, but I also know you: you’re good enough at getting yourself into trouble without help from the new-age cops,” Emrys laughed.


	2. The (Torch)wood Children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Alec shot an unreadable look towards Magnus, then stepped into the portal with a huff._   
>  _“He’ll come around,” Izzy said softly, “you just have…difficult old friends.”_   
>  _“Trust me, I know.” Magnus groaned, still facing away from them, hands waving through the air as things righted themselves in front of him._

“You never get five minutes of peace do you, my friend?” Emrys whisper-laughed a moment after Magnus’ ward alarms started blaring again - meaning whatever was coming was _close_.

  “And you do!?” Magnus hissed back just as quietly, glaring at nothing in particular. The other warlock had a point. He never got any peace these days, did he?

  “I get fifty or so years of peace for every 200 or so years of chaos,” he shrugged, peering around the wide, brick pillar he’d taken cover behind.

  Magnus outwardly frowned, preparing himself for the inevitable fight; inwardly he was beaming. He never loved the barely-man - who really was, possibly his __best,__  friend - more than when he was like this. Cocky and jokey and only small traces of the crushing sadness in his eyes. In moments like this his eyes shine, for once not with pain, and his smile and laugh are unmatched and contagious. In moments like this, Magnus forgets the nagging in the back of his mind, reminding him that one day he’ll turn into a less-good version of his friend. In moments like this- he was going to have to move his apartment. Again.

  “Yeah? Is it about time for the two centuries of chaos?” Magnus snapped. Emrys always got him into the worst trouble. Worse than anything the Shadowhunters, Night-Children, Fae or even his more… __eccentric__  warlock friends __ever__  got him into. __And__  Emrys always did it faster than __any__ of the __numerous__ other trouble-magnets Magnus seemed to attract. Wow, he was a trouble-magnet magnet. __What?__

  “Yeah about time for it,” he muttered. That didn’t make Magnus feel any better. “So who are your unwanted house-guests? Or rather, __what?__ ”

  “You mean besides you?” he half-assed-ly groaned. Of __course__  this time he hadn’t put up identifying wards. Magnus made an angry mental note to not fall short on the wards, __just__ because they took three days to perfect.

  “Magnus,” Emrys hissed in a low voice, “can you pretend you’re not happy to see me, __after__  we’ve had our traditional, reunion fight-to-the-death?”

  Just as the last word passed his lips a human-looking… _ _something__  burst through Magnus’ double doors like they were wood. Which…technically they __were__ , but the wards were supposed to make then tougher than six-foot, bunker blast doors.

  With his usual show-off-ish flourish, Magnus was barely a foot out, from his own cover before he had the intruder in two separate corners of his entranceway.

  “Why can’t I do both?” he asked with a cheeky grin and an equally cheeky wave of his glowing fingers. Out in the open, without the protection from his - meagre, haste - cover, Magnus was seemingly in immediate danger when another human-looking-something burst in through the wall.

  However before the cat-eyed warlock even had time for his eyes to turn __slightly__  golden, the other warlock had stepped out as well, waving his hand lazily and sending the next intruder flying.

  “Always so careless, my dear,” Emrys muttered, slightly exasperated. “Let me guess, you didn’t put up identifying wards?”

  Magnus groaned, rolling his eyes, “they take __time!__  And I was…distracted…” he admitted, staring at one half of the intruders.

  Emrys stared wide eyed at him for a moment before shaking his head. “I’m guessing you didn’t do __any__  of the longer wards then?” he muttered, looking for all the world like he wanted nothing more than to slap his own head into his hand. Or maybe slap Magnus.

  Mangus’ ‘yes I know, I’m stupid you don’t have to keep reminding me’ glare was all Emrys needed to know he was right.

  “One day your laziness is going to get you killed, my dear,” he half-laughed. “You do know it’s going to be even more tedious finding out who they--”

  They’d stopped attempting to be quiet, and that must have drawn the attackers’ attention, because when Emrys looked up his fond smile faded. There were surrounded.

  “Uh, Magnus? Buddy?” Emrys muttered stiffly, out of the corner of his mouth.

  In the back of his mind, Magnus wondered if maybe Emrys hadn’t spent the last century or so in some forest; his friend almost sounded like a common 20th century born-person. When he raised his eyes he almost laughed.

  “Well,” he drawled with a knowing smile that only made the definitely-not-humans growl, “this hardly seems fair.”

  “Fifteen of __us__ , against __two__  evil warlocks?” one of them snapped, “seems fair to me.”

  “Oh,” Emrys gasped, a smile to match Magnus’ on his face, “he meant fair for you.”

  The moment their enemies lurch forward, the __moment__ their feet leave the ground, Magnus and Emrys were back to back, waves and clouds and webs of blue, red, bright green and neon pink surrounding them.

  “This is just like the North Pole all over again!” Emrys laughed loudly, as the swirls of colours - never quite mixing - held the attackers off and attacked them in return.

  “Which time?” Magnus frowned, wondering how this was anything like the time they accidentally wandered into a Polar Bear den, __or__  when they’d accidentally portalled there in…inappropriate clothes, while taking another head off.

  “What year was it…” Emrys mumbled, hands falling to his side while a thoughtful look covered his face: except the enemies he had been fighting kept falling and taking blows. “Oh, sometime between the 14th and 15th century!” he cried, raising his hands again, concentration restored.

  Magnus’ cat-eyes grew wide, “you and I obviously remember that __very__  differently!”

  Emrys just chuckled. (Although whether at Magnus, or the not-human he’d picked up and thrown into a group of his friends like a bowling ball and pins, was unclear.)

  “You’re under attack by an __army__  and you have time for a trip down __memory lane!?__ ” one of them hissed from where they were crawling along the floor, either pinned by one of the warlocks or simply unable to stand.

  Magnus and Emrys both paused, turning to glare at their fallen enemy. After a moment Magnus turned to his comrade.

  “Are you as bored of this as I am, my dear?” Magnus drawled, turning his gaze to his friend.

  “If not more so,” Emrys said in an emotionless voice, eyes never leaving the fallen, mouthy, enemy.

  “Well then, lets finish this.”

  Emrys rolled his shoulder, hand coming back up to hover mid-air, a slightly burnt-umber colour rushing as if from his fingers and covering the room. Only a hint of Magnus’ own blue magic could be seen. The warlock brought his hands together, in a prayer, except he was not praying. The smoke rushed back into his palms but left numerous bodies in it’s wake. All but three were dead.

  “You want to do clean-up?” Magnus asked cheerily a moment later, cat-eyes gone but his fingers still holding an after-glow - literally.

  “Uh, no. After your job with the wards I’ll keep the prisoners in check, and fix your wards for you. You can clean up __your__  apartment however you like,” Emrys grumbled. Magnus had forgotten how he got after fighting, after taking lives. “After all,” he continued with a fake, half-hearted smile, “if __I__  did it you’d just complain and spend hours redoing it.”

  Magnus chuckled lightly, but it didn’t reach his eyes either. His friend’s - only __ever__  fleeting - absence of pain was obviously over. The, previously, cat-eyes were now pain filled. Pain for his friend’s pain.

  However, the High Warlock Of Brooklyn’s sympathy was short lived as the Lightwood children burst through the mess that had been his doors.

  “Magnus!” Izzy shouted as she rounded the corner too fast, almost skidding along the floor in her effort to stop. The physical challenge to turn fight mode off was obvious in her body language.

  Alec, however, barely glanced at the chaos as he rounded the corner, heading straight for Magnus.

  “I’m okay,” the warlock uttered, holding a hand up to stop Alec from advancing any more. He knew the Nephilim wanted to hug him, to hold him tight - maybe even as much as Magnus wanted it - but the warlock wasn’t going to let the man do something he’d only end up apologizing for later. No. For now, it was better to wait until Alec was ready, not when he __thought__  he was ready.

  After conformation that their friend was okay, Izzy and Alec turned on Emrys in a almost creepily synced, single, swift and smooth movement.

  In a way that simply screamed, __‘are you serious right now?’__ , the unknown warlock tilted his head and raised his eyebrows. Then rolled his eyes in Magnus’ direction as if to say __‘Shadowhunters these days’__.

  Just as Magnus stepped slightly around Alec (when had the man stepped so obviously, defensively in front of the, far more durable, warlock?) and opened his mouth with a small ‘ah’, the usually much-harder-than-that-to-defeat Shadowhunters had been relieved of their weapons and frozen about a foot off the blood spattered floor.

  “That’s __really__  not necessary,” Magnus hissed, looking like he wanted to slam his face into his palm or crawl into bed and sleep for 30 centuries. He’d __really__ been hoping Emrys wouldn’t meet Alec while he was in one of __these__  moods. But when it came to his oldest friend; he never had much luck getting what he wanted.

  “Oh,” his frustrating friend, mock-pouted, “but how will they learn manners?”

  “ _ _Emrys__ ,” Magnus hissed again, “ _ _first impressions!__ ”

  That seemed to mean something, to the warlock; who had just not only disabled, but disarmed two of this generation’s best Shadowhunters, without doing much more than blinking; because he let them down. Although was hesitant to give them their weapons back.

  “I’ll return your silly __toys__ , after Magnus explains that I’m not the threat you obviously think I am,” Emrys shrugged. “Are all your house guests treated this way?” he asked the fellow warlock cheekily.

  “It’s not like I __invited__  you,” Magnus groaned, then turned to his younger friends with an apologetic look, “he’s in a mood. I swear, he’s usually a little nicer. And he’s not a threat. Believe it or not… he’s my oldest friend.”

  “Aww!” Emrys cooed, spinning back to the trio with wide eyes, “and here I was starting to think you really didn’t like me!” He chuckled lightly - one of his contagious ones - and suddenly the Nephlim’s hands were full with their weapons once again.

  Emrys stalked up to Alec, walking a circle around him, dragging his eyes over the half-angel. “You really know how to pick ‘em, darling. Not bad Torchwood.”

  Alec’s eyes narrowed. “ _ _What?__ ”

  This time Magnus __did__  face-palm. “Lightwood. __Lightwoods.__  If I didn’t need your help re-doing my wards and sorting this mess out I’d-”

  “You’d what?” Emrys asked with a cheeky grin.

  Magnus deflated immediately. The pain was so close to forgotten, he could see it in his face. He couldn’t stand to be the one to ruin that. He sighed heavily, “just help these two get the prisoners back to the Institute while I clean up.”

  The warlock turned his goofy grin to the frowning Shadowhunters. “Lets get to work shall we?”

  ‘Get to work’ apparently meant the Lightwoods stand there looking (and feeling) rather useless while the warlock does all the work and creates a portal - literally all with a snap of his fingers.

  “Uh, dearest?” Magnus called in a, more-than-slightly, condescending tone. “Maybe dial it back a bit? These days there aren’t many warlocks who can conjure a portal with just a snap of their fingers. …Actually only one.” As a different tact, Magnus added, “remember when I brought you to London in the early 1800’s? Remember the culture shock? Well try to think of that when doing magic in front of… anyone.”

  “I thought you liked my showing off,” Emrys drawled in a tone, easily perceived, as flirty. Except it wasn’t. The two pretended and acted and joked, but that’s all it is.

  “Lets just get this over with,” Alec __glared.__   _ _With his voice__  (however you do that…).

  …Of course __Alec__ didn’t know they two were Joshing.

  “Why yes,” Emrys agreed, smiling warmly at Alec, seemingly unaware of the Nephlim’s dislike towards him, “the sooner we finish this, the sooner I can continue to get to know the Lightwood children.” The charming smile he threw at Izzy made the girl giggle lightly. Emrys always did have a knack for winning people’s hearts…

  “Wait,” the girl cried out suddenly when Emrys stepped towards the portal, “you can’t portal somewhere you’ve never been! You’ll get stuck in limbo.”

  Magnus couldn’t help the snort, from across the room.

  Emrys shot a glare into his back, but turned a kind smile to the girl, “don’t worry about me. I’m a little bit better at magic than Magnus, limbo won’t stick me.”

  “You know curiosity __killed__  the cat, right?” Alec grumbled at his sister after the unfamiliar warlock had stepped through the portal with the prisoners.

  “But satisfaction brought it back,” she laughed again.

  Alec shot an unreadable look towards Magnus, then stepped into the portal with a huff.

  “He’ll come around,” Izzy said softly, “you just have…difficult old friends.”

  “Trust me, __I know__.” Magnus groaned, still facing away from them, hands waving through the air as things righted themselves in front of him.


	3. Mrs. Maryse Lightwood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“I’ll be leaving these buggers with you, Mrs Maryse Lightwood. Meanwhile, I have to borrow your children for a few hours. _Someone_ has to catch me up on the Accords now, don’t they?" _   
>  _Maryse looked like she wanted to argue, and everyone expected her to. However she simply pursed her lips, looking furious, and gave a short, curt nod._   
>  _“Thought so. Toodle-pip,” Emrys chuckled._

“What is the meaning of thi-!” Maryse’s voice was shrill across the Institute control room, but the sight of the man silenced her. A man that hasn’t aged a day. But it must have been over twenty years…

  “ _ _Ah!__  Hello, Maryse!” Emrys called out cheerily, then added with a confused head tilt, “what are you doing here?”

  The entire compound slid to a halt, all staring, watching the scene unfold with curious eyes.

  Emrys shrugged one shoulder, turning away from Maryse’s shocked face, “Magnus and I have three prisoners for you. I swear that warlock’s laziness is going to be the death of him. He didn’t have any identifying wards up, so I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re dealing with. But I’m sure your __wonderful__  forensic-expert could tell you all we need to know - with no trouble,” he smiled sweetly at Isabel.

  The young woman smiled, but when Emrys turned, her brows suddenly furrowed, confused. She hadn’t told him anything about her roles at the Institute.

  But Emrys continued speaking, now staring around the control room as if it was fascinating him, “of course I __could__  in a matter of breaths... But you wouldn’t want my bill. I’ve had a long decade I’m not feeling very …generous.” He finished with a smile that no one returned.

  Silence fell over the Institute, the soft beeping and electric whirring of the machines the only sound.

  “Mum?” Alec mumbled, breaking the silence, stepping out from behind the warlock.

  “ _ _Oh!”__  Realisation crossed his face. _ _“__ You’re a Torch- __Light__ wood? Good for you, Maryse,” Emrys smiled warmly, a twinkle in his eye.

  The woman’s face hardened.

  Emrys sighed, a strange look on his face, “well. I tried.” His whole demeanour did a 180 in a matter of nanoseconds, his shoulders straightening, the fallen look cast aside for his usual cheery façade (a façade you wouldn’t even realise was an act until you payed __close__  attention) “I’ll be leaving these buggers with you, Mrs Maryse Lightwood. Meanwhile, I have to borrow your children for a few hours. __Someone__  has to catch me up on the Accords now, don’t they?” he added when she opened her mouth.

  Maryse looked like she wanted to argue, and everyone expected her to. However she simply pursed her lips, looking furious, and gave a short, curt nod.

  “Thought so. Toodle-pip,” Emrys chuckled, linking his arms with the Lightwood children’s, and, before they could react, pulling them back through the portal.


	4. Limbo And (Unhelpful) Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"What I mean, is he doesn’t treat portals like normal portals.”_   
>  _“What does that mean?” Izzy gritted out, the nauseous feeling - usually associated with portaling for the first time, sneaking up on her suddenly. And by the looks of it, Alec was feeling much in the same boat._   
>  _“I mean, he literally doesn’t treat portals like normal warlocks do,” Magnus gasped, eyes wide as if this was something constantly bugging him. “It’s a pain, honestly. Makes the rest of us look bad.”_

“--Dangerous and _stupid!_ ” Alec finished shouting, as their feet hit the wood of Magnus’ freshly blood-free floor. “What in the Angel…”

  “ _ _Emrys__ ,” Magnus groaned, turning the corner to where his guests had reappeared. “What did I __say?!__ ”

  “Oh! Yeah…” the other warlock mumbled, suddenly looking sheepish. “ _ _Sorry,__  I forgot…”

  “What just happened?” Izzy asked under her breath, “we could have been stuck in Limbo!”

  “Uh, __no!__ ” Magnus jumped in, “no, you were perfectly safe. __Trust me__ , I would not have let him take you if you would have been in danger.”

  Alec turned disbelieving and __furious__  eyes on him.

  “Um… let me explain!” Magnus rushed, “you see, Emrys isn’t any old warlock - well he is an old warlock but he- __off point!__  What I __mean__ , is he doesn’t treat portals like normal portals.”

  “What does __that__  mean?” Izzy gritted out, the nauseous feeling - usually associated with portaling for the first time, sneaking up on her suddenly. And by the looks of it, Alec was feeling much in the same boat.

  “I mean, he literally doesn’t treat portals like normal warlocks do,” Magnus gasped, eyes wide as if this was something constantly bugging him. “It’s a pain, honestly. Makes the rest of us look bad.”

  The children (because even compared to Magnus they really are __just__  children) didn’t look any less confused. Although that might have been because their focus had shifted to not throwing up.

  “It means, with my portals there is no Limbo,” Emrys explained: just as equally, unhelpfully. “You two look like you need a sit down. And a bucket…” he muttered, and the two felt like they were falling - felt that feeling you get when you’re lying in bed and then your body suddenly jerks you awake - only to land in soft chairs with buckets between their knees.

  “ _ _Emrys!__ ” Magnus snapped harshly, “would you __think__  before you just…magic everything!? You’re making me feel like I’m only a century old again…”

  “ _ _Sorry!__ ” the obviously __extremely__  powerful warlock, squealed, hands shooting into in the air, palms facing outward in a universal surrender. “I’m not __used__ to being around mundanes!”

  “We’re __not-__ ” Alec started to snap.

  “Trust me, sweetie, compared to my usual company, you’re as mundane as one can get,” Emrys muttered absently.

  “Emrys, would you __please__ , __try__ to remember what ‘polite’ means to those without magic,” Magnus half-begged.

  If Izzy wasn’t on the verge of revisiting her lunch, she would have found the warlocks unusual behaviour amusing.

  Emrys gave him a look. A look that seemed innocent to the Lightwoods but Magnus knew his friend better than that. He knew his __infuriating__  friend better than that. He saw the mock in his look. “I swear, I’ll try to keep that in mind. I’ll try my best!”

  Magnus inwardly groaned. And outwardly muttered, “and to think, this morning my biggest worries was stocking up my… uh you don’t want to know…” he finished unexpectedly, getting the look he sometimes got when the past came up.

  “ _ _Oh!__ ” Emrys cried out, “I’ll give you the details for a guy I know, he’ll only be around maybe another hundred years but he’s got good product. The contact spell is a little more complex than your favoured fire-messages but it’s still pretty simple - even with the twist he adds.”

  Alec and Izzy were looking at them with horrified looks.

  “What?” Emrys asked. He turned to Magnus, “I didn’t think that was so bad?”

  “Their minds are probably just thinking up the __worst__  possible scenarios,” Magnus muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

  “Wait,” Izzy muttered, a thought crossing her mind and changing the subject, “you know our mother?”

  “ _ _Knew.__ ” Emrys corrected. “She was probably your age, or younger.”

  “ _ _No!__ ” Magnus cried with a small scoff, realisation spreading over his features, “ _ _Maryse__  is the Shadowhunter you--”

  Emrys shot him a look and he clamped his mouth shut. But it was too late.

  “Oh, __ew__ ,” Izzy and Alec groaned when realisation hit them.

  “Oh, don’t be so __judgy__ ,” Emrys scoffed lightly, “everyone has a past.”

  Alec was too busy staring into his bucket like it was a life line to notice, but __Izzy__ caught the looks the warlocks were shooting each other - as if they were having a whole conversation without words.

  “I can __hear__  you,” Alec grumbled, after a minute of silence, and Magnus flinched lightly, straightening stiffly.

  “I need a drink,” he mumbled.

  “That’s a good idea! I’ll help you,” Emrys followed his friend, turning back to the two only to smile and cheerily (if slightly cryptically) say, “don’t worry, I already know what you want - __and__  what you need.”


	5. Past Relationships (To Name A Few)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Magnus spun around the corner, nearly skidding, “whatever he said it’s _not_ what it sounds like!” _   
>  _He stood there for a moment, hands out and eyes wide, breathing heavily._   
>  _“Man, always such a drama queen,” Emrys mumbled. “I didn’t say anything incriminating.”_

After the two Lightwoods could clearly hear the unmistakable rustle and soft, light rumble, of a silencing ward around the two warlocks in the next room, Izzy leapt forward.

  Or… leant slightly closer to Alec. Leaping wasn’t something she could do with out puking at the moment. “I think he’s charming but - I don’t trust him.”

  Alec snorted, “obviously. I can’t believe you find him charming…”

  “I can’t believe he slept with mum…” she muttered.

  “Oh,” he groaned, “don’t remind me, I don’t need another reason to be sick.”

  “It’s interesting though,” she said with a small smile, “don’t you think.”

  Her brother raised his eyes, a ‘what __are__ you on about?’ look in his features. “ _ _What’s__ interesting?”

  “Meeting one of Magnus’ friends!” she said as if that were obvious.

  “He’s not that impressive.”

  This time Izzy gave him a look. “Alec, he made us about as common butterfly, without much more than blinking. He summoned a portal with a snap of his fingers! We’ve both seen a great deal of warlocks cast portals. And __none__  have done it so easily!”

  Alec grunted a ‘I guess you’re right’.

  “You’re just jealous,” Izzy teased, but her face was soft when Alec looked back up with a glare. “You have no reason to be, o, brother mine.”

  “She’s right you know,” Emrys’ voice made them both jump. Today was __not__  their day, apparently. “What Magnus and I once had was a fire that burnt out long, __long__  ago. We joke around now, but that’s all it is: two friends who have known each other too long - longer than anyone should know __anyone__ , truth be told - joking around. You have __no__ reason to be jealous. Besides,” he said with what was, probably, meant to be a reassuring smile, “Magnus is infatuated with you.”

  Izzy smiled, as if saying ‘see! Told you!’.

  But Alec’s mind was stuck on ‘what Magnus and I once had’.

  “Now, you both drink up,” Emrys said with in surprisingly good ‘dad’ voice, “there’s something for your stomachs - sorry about that, my fault - and a good stiff drink. I suggest just downing them both as fast as you can.”

  A minute after Emrys disappeared back into the other room, and Izzy was making a face after downing one drink, and Alec was making faces at the first one he’d picked up, the silence ward was broken.

  “YOU TOLD HIM __WHAT!?__ ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! YOU’RE __KILLING ME__  HERE, EMRYS!” Magnus’ voice - although they’d never heard him quite so loud or quite so angry - was unmistakable.

  “Uh oh,” Izzy murmured, downing the other drink before she could think too much about it.

  Magnus spun around the corner, nearly skidding like Izzy had earlier, “whatever he said it’s __not__ what it sounds like!”

  He stood there for a moment, hands out and eyes wide, breathing heavily.

  “Man, always such a drama queen,” Emrys mumbled, strolling in behind him. “I didn’t say anything incriminating.”

  Magnus didn’t miss the way Izzy’s eyebrows raised. He turned on his fellow warlock, “yes you did! What did you say!” Then he turned to the Lightwoods, “what did he say!?”

  After almost two minutes of silence Emrys spoke up again, leaning around his friend to point his question to the Lightwoods, “who’s the blond dude?”

  “ _ _What?__ ” Alec blinked.

  “The blond-” Magnus muttered, rapidly blinking, “do you mean __Jace?__ ”

  “I don’t __know__ ,” Emrys said slowly, “that’s why I __asked.__ ”

  “Again,” Magnus snapped, losing his patience, “ _ _why__  are you here? Go stay with the witch until he comes back, I can’t deal with you right now.”

  Something passed over Emrys’ face and he jerked, “oh __shit!__ ”

  Before anyone could react, the strange warlock created a portal, stepped through it, and it disappeared as quick as it appeared.

  Once the sort-of-human headache was out of his apartment, for an indefinite amount of time, Magnus fell onto the sofa next to Alec like a sack of potatoes and ran a hand over his weary face.

  “That man is either going to __kill me__ , or __drive me__  into an early grave,” he grumbled, a strong-smelling drink suddenly in his hand.

  “I think you’re a little past an early grave,” Izzy offered, trying to make light of a plain __bizarre__  situation.

  “Good point,” Magnus smiled. Then his face turned serious, “hang on, why isn’t your mother driving everyone nuts looking for you? Why are you still here? You took the attackers back, right?”

  Alec opened his mouth to answer, but Izzy interrupted before he could speak. “Protection. In case there are more.”

  Magnus didn’t look convinced, and Alec was glaring harshly at his sister: who just smiled sweetly and winked.

 


	6. A Warlock's Parabatai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Uh, this is yours? I believe,” the warlock asked mock-innocently, bowing slightly with a hand out. Sat in his palm was Alec’s dagger.  
>  _“Wait, did you plan this?” Magnus asked, mind catching up.  
>  _“Of course I did.” Emrys shrugged, “you two weren’t going to get anywhere without talking."___

A minute of, _uncomfortably_ , tense silence later, Izzy stood up.

  “Well, I’m feeling better,” she declared, “I’m going to check the perimeter.”

  Alec glared holes into her back as she half-skipped from the room.

  Magnus wasted no time. “I don’t know what he said; honestly he could have said a thousand different things, and he has the free-flying imagination to make up another thousand things - probably worse than anything I’m imagining. But whatever he said I swear it’s not as bad as he made it out to be.” Magnus was nervous, ringing his hands slightly. His mind was reeling, trying to think of what his uninvited house guest could have possible said. The older warlock could be nice, he could be mean, he could be cold, he could even be just a damn pain in the ass: it all depended on his mood.

  Years, and years and centuries and __millennials__  of history, meant the two had a lot of stories. Emrys had, __personally__ , caused Magnus to lose people __he’d__  thought he was in love with. The cat-eyed warlock lost his right to be angry at the fellow warlock when, soon after, he discovered his loves had, in fact, __not__ loved him. Or held an alternative agenda, or meant to hurt him. __Somehow__ , the legend-old warlock, was only ever looking out for Magnus. Hurting his friend himself, instead of letting his friend be hurt by those who would control him, use him.

  That didn’t mean the warlock could easily forgive him. Of course he understood why Emrys had done all he’d done; __why__ he always shoved his way into Magnus’ more serious relationships. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

  Magnus felt his panic was well reasoned. If Emrys decided himself; that Alexander wasn’t good enough for him, or he wasn’t good enough for Alec, or Alexander’s end game was meant to hurt him (Magnus hated to think that; but a voice in his head confirmed, the warlock would __let__  the Shadowhunter hurt him - if only he was allowed to know the mere boy)…well, then before Magnus could realise what was happening; he’d find there would be a split between Alec and himself they’d be unable to fix.

  Alec turned to him, after what felt like an age. “Do you have so little trust in your friends?” he asked, expression neutral and unreadable.

  “What?” Magnus muttered. He’d expected shouting or swearing or breaking things. The clam, controlled and cold voice of the eldest Lightwood child hurt more… “ _ _No!__  I love him! He’s been around since… well he was old when I was just a babe. I love him, I do. And…in his own way, I know he loves me too.

  “But you have to understand; he has his own version of right and wrong, these rules he follows. I know he’s seen things I couldn’t imagine. I know he’s been to hell and back, I know he lives his own personal hell each and every day. He watches the love of his life die every century or so! I have no clue how he’s even partially sane! But he’s not entirely… _ _there__.”

  His voice turned softer as he continued, “I think he’s scared to admit how much he cares for me because everyone he’s ever cared about ends up hurt; but he thinks of me as family. __I__ think of him as my best friend - no matter how much he grinds me the wrong way. But he has a… __reputation__  for sabotaging my… uhm…” Magnus trailed off, realising he couldn’t yet say ‘relationship’ and infer Alec. They hadn’t really talked… At all.

  “If you love him so much, why don’t you be with him? He’ll live as long as you. He won’t age and you won’t have to watch him fade away.”

  It took Magnus a moment to read the emotion in Alec’s voice, in his face. “Oh, Alexander,” the warlock breathed, wanting to reach a hand out to the hurting man, understanding Alec’s worries suddenly. “I don’t love him like that. And he does age; he’s a bastard like that. You just wait; he’ll age himself maybe ten years each day he’s here, then he’ll reappear a few centuries later, bright and shiny and just like new. No one fades away quite like Emrys…” he whispered, feeling his own eyes starting to sting with the familiar feeling of tears. He refused to rip his eyes from Alec’s, however.

  “But you did once. You were together once,” he insisted. It was both a question and a statement. An accusation.

  Magnus’ eyes fell shut. “Damn him.”

  He opened them and faced his body to Alec, needing the man to understand his next words, to see he was serious. “ _ _Once__. We’d been friends maybe half a millennia, we thought, ‘might as well give it a go.’ We were both lonely; both needed another to ease our pain. It lasted only three years - which is nothing to us. Not back then.

  “But he left. He __always leaves__. We tried it; it didn’t work out. But we remained friends after. We need each other, more than we care to admit; we’re each other’s rocks. We need each other and I’m not going to pretend we don’t.”

  Alec’s face hadn’t changed. He still looked hurt. He looked broken. Magnus rushed to fix that.

  “No, you don’t understand; he’s in love with someone else.” The warlock’s sharp eyes caught a small break in Alexander’s expression. And he pushed it further open. “He’s in love with someone else. He always has been. And the way he talks… I’ve never met them, but I can’t imagine two people __more__ in love. Or more in hate… The idiot gets his heart broken so many times… I love him like you love Izzy. He’s family, but… _ _more__ than that. I can’t explain it…” he finished with a soft sigh, shaking his head. He truly had no idea how to ease Alec’s worries…

  “He’s your __parabatai__ ,” Alec uttered gently. Understanding on his face.

  The warlock - who obviously knew the phrase - considered it for a moment, eyes wide. Then nodded; it wasn’t a perfect analogy - but it was a Shadowhunter term - but it was fitting. “I just don’t want you to think there’s something more between us. There was, but we don’t talk about it and we’re not going to give it a go again. Trust me, it was __chaos__.”

  Both the people seated on the couch jumped - Alec went straight for his dagger only to find it gone - when arms wrapped around Magnus over the back of the sofa.

  “ _ _Aw!__  I knew you could do it!” the suddenly smiley and friendly warlock pressed a messy kiss to the side of Magnus’ head, then walked around the sofa.

  “You- what?” Alec sputtered.

  “Uh, this is yours? I believe,” the warlock asked mock-innocently, bowing slightly with a hand out. Sat in his palm was Alec’s dagger.

  “Wait, did you plan this?” Magnus asked, mind catching up.

  “Of course I did.” Emrys shrugged, “you two weren’t going to get anywhere without __talking__. And __you’d__ ,” he pointed a finger at Magnus, a cheeky grin on his lips, _ _“__ only get in trouble if you tried to hide that we had history - the type that matters __here.__ ” He made little circular motions with his hand and sunk into a chair - as if he owned the place. Then waved his hand in the air absently, as if he was bored of this conversation now.

  “Emrys!” Izzy’s silky voice carried into the open room easily, “you’re back!”

  Magnus turned suspicious eyes to his friend, “where __did__ you go?”

  “To see a man about a dog,” he smiled, eyes glistening.

  “What?” Alec asked, mouth twisted into a smile like he thought Emrys was telling a bad joke.

  “It’s a saying, Alec,” Izzy sighed.

  “You’re not bringing a dog into my apartment,” Magnus warned hesitantly, eyeing his cloak as if he expected the warlock to just pull a dog from it.

  The Lightwoods turned to Magnus.

  “Is that likely to happen?” Izzy blinked.

  Emrys chuckled, “well, __technically:__  a woman about a dragon.”

  Alec and Izzy spluttered slightly.

  Magnus began to laugh at them, but his face turned deathly serious before it’d fully formed. “You didn’t hatch another egg did you?”

  The Lightwood siblings shared a look. The breeding of magical creatures was a complex topic. Many species were forbidden; more were forbidden only in specific countries; others were allowed only under constant watch, care and supervision. This warlock did __not__  seem like someone the Clave would trust to raise such creatures.

  …This day was __not__ going how they’d expected.

  “If I did, you’d know about it,” Emrys chuckled, “because they’d be in your front room.”

  Magnus flopped back on the sofa with a strung-out groan.

  “…Dragon?” Izzy asked carefully.

  “Dragon __eggs?__ ” Alec clarified, his relaxed tone shoved aside for his work voice. Serious as ever.

  Emrys jerked ever so slightly, looked at Alec, then Izzy, then back to Alec, as if he’d forgotten they were even there. “Yeah. Kinda my job.”

  Both Lightwoods blinked at him. In unison.

  “Your job is protecting the mundanes, killing demons and following the Clave’s orders blindly - __‘the law is the law’__ and all that - while __mine__ is protecting Dragons, killing whatever threatens their existence and following the laws of being an under-thanked, over-worked, glorified Dragon-nanny.”

  “ _ _Dragons?__ ” Alec repeated, shaking his head disbelievingly.

  “Dragons,” Emrys confirmed. “Hatching and raising their eggs until they’re able to fend for themselves is just another part of my job.” He continued, obviously caught up in his own little world, because he didn’t notice the way Alec and Izzy were gaping at him, “they’re pretty much over-excitable puppies - … _ _that__  breathe fire… And, much like dogs, they need training. So when I find an egg - which doesn’t happen __twice__  in a millennia - I bring them over to meet Magnus,” he smiled cheekily and Magnus groaned again, sinking deeper into the sofa - if that was even possible.

  “…Why?” Izzy asked, still gaping slightly.

  Mythical and magical creatures were __not__  new to Shadowhunters - not even __these__  Shadowhunters - but __dragons?__  Dragons didn’t exist. Hadn’t for thousands and thousands of years. Or…weren’t supposed to.

  Emrys blinked, again as if he’d forgotten they were there. Or maybe where __he__  was… “To introduce them to other people, other warlocks. To normalise them to not __just__ me. A dragon that’s never seen a human is a whole __basket__  of chaos.” He shrugged slightly, “I know they never __naturally__  come across humans themselves - they’re far too scared of them to even __accidentally__  get anywhere close - but it’s easier to get them used to the culture shock while they’re still young.”

  The Lightwoods couldn’t do anything but blink. And blink some more.

  “What?” the warlock laughed on a breath, confused at their reaction.

  Again, Magnus groaned, but this time pulled himself out of the little hole he’d buried himself in - instead of sinking deeper. “Dragons don’t __exist__ , __remember__ , Emrys?” he drawled in a irritated tone.

  Emrys froze, like a rabbit caught in the headlights. “Oh yeah…” he uttered sheepishly, glancing near-frantically between the shell-shocked Shadowhunters.

  “Dragons…” Alec breathed, nodding almost trance-like, eyes not really focusing on… anything. “Dragons are real… Of __course__ they are. Why not?”

  Izzy burst into laughter, “why are we surprised? How much do the Clave ever actually tell us?”

  “Less than you’d think is fair,” Emrys shrugged automatically, without thinking, “there’s a whole country, almost the size of Russia, just for the dragon species; you need all that space because the different breeds don’t all get along.”

  Izzy stopped short. “Okay, __that’s__ a little much…” She fell into a nearby chair, with none of her usual grace, eyes bug-wide.

  “Oo-kay,” Magnus sighed, getting to his feet, “I think we all could use another drink.”

  “I agree…” Izzy mumbled.

  Alec made an affirmative noise in his throat, still staring into space.

  Magnus left to make drinks, shooting concerned looks at the young adults before he turned the corner.

  The silence was setting Emrys’ teeth on edge. After a beat or two,he broke it. He had to. It was __too__  quiet.

  “ _ _So-oo.__ ”

  “Uh-uh,” Izzy muttered, waggling her finger in a ‘no’. “No words.”

  He huffed out a breath, this time being the one to fall further into his chair. “Uneasy silence it is then.”

  “Shh,” Alec snapped, eyes more than a little glassy.

  “Uh… Magnus?” Emrys called out the side of his mouth, “I think I broke your little half-angel toys…”

  Magnus started shouting profanity loudly but not clearly - except cut himself off before he’d even really started.

  He strode into the room, drinks following at shoulder height behind him. “They’re not ‘my __toys__ ’,” he snapped, face only turning soft when he knelt in front of the Shadowhunters, gently pushing the drinks into their hands. “And it’s __your__ fault; you need to think before you speak. Really, you need to think before you do __anything__.”

  Emrys opened his mouth with a cheeky grin, but Magnus interrupted.

  “Yes, I __know__. It only took me a thousand years, to learn that thinking is both your best and __worst__ trait.”

  Emrys smirked, amused. Magnus ignored him.

 


	7. Dragons and Too Much History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _He smiled widely, as if he hadn’t just insulted his friend and then confirmed he was, in fact, insulting his friend._   
>  _“Can we go then? The sooner we get this over with the sooner- actually I don’t know why I’m so eager. It’s going to be painful no matter what.”_

 

It took nearly twenty minutes for Izzy and Alec to break out of their trance.

  “So… _ _dragons?__ ” Alec asked, now smiling slightly and looking at Emrys.

  “Yeah… dragons,” he grimaced lightly.

  “How many are there, these days?” Izzy asked, now extremely interested. How often do you learn a species supposed to be extinct __isn’t__  extinct __and__  get to talk to the man that raises them? “…Approximately?”

  “Seventeen,” Emrys answered, without missing a beat.

  Izzy blinked. “I… wasn’t expecting such an exact number…”

  “Well I raised most of them. They’re family. I feel each of them - not unlike a parabatai bond, but so much stronger, so much harsher and… _ _dependant,__ ” explained Emrys, as if he were explaining a fight move, not the lifeline of an entire species. “There’s far more than there used to be: trust me I was worried they’d go extinct for a good 500 years.”

  “That’s a __lot?__ ” Alec asked, head snapping up.

  “Of course,” Emrys frowned, “some of the breeds have gone extinct: a lot of the water-dwellers, and those that preferred the human forests were hunted into extinction years before I was even born.” He sighed quietly, “they were hunted near extinction even when I was young,” then he smiled fondly, “I hatched my first egg just half a human life in…”

  Magnus huffed fondly as well, smiling obviously at a memory, but the Lightwoods didn’t notice.

  Izzy fidgeted, an excited smile on her face. She obviously wanted to say something.

  “ _ _Ask__ , child,” Emrys laughed after a minute of this. __People under a hundred are so cute__.

  She smiled almost thankfully, vibrating with the effort of keeping it in. “Do you need any help? Training them? It’s not everyday the chance to meet a __dragon__  pops up…” She flashed the warlock her sweetest smile.

  He just chuckled, “I know a few that’d love to meet you.” Before she could get too excited, he added, “I can’t promise anything. I don’t know how long I’m sticking around. But if I’m still here; I’m sure I can arrange a portal or two.”

  Izzy squealed excitedly, even Alec looked almost excited.

  “Don’t get your hopes up too much,” Magnus warned gently. He wasn’t being mean, he just knew his friend too well. One day, it’d seem like he’d be around for months, and the next he’d be gone. Just gone. Almost as if he’d never even been there in the first place.

  Emrys didn’t deny it. He fixed his eyes on the floor in shame. Izzy tilted her head slightly, but didn’t ask.

  “Oh!” Emrys cried suddenly, making everyone jump slightly (which was starting to piss everyone off; they __never__  jumped this much. It was hard to surprise a warlock and even harder to sneak up on a Shadowhunter. Except, __apparently__ , for this warlock: who hadn’t seemed to have __noticed__ , let alone be doing it purposely. Which was __more__ irritating than if he were doing it for fun) “Magnus we need to __go!__ ”

  The whole room stilled. This time all three of them blinked together.

  “ _ _Why?__ ”

  “Huh? Oh, because I __may__  owe a visit to-”

  “You’re __kidding__ , right?” Magnus groaned, for the thousandth time that day.

  “Not exactly, no,” he shrugged sheepishly. “ _ _Come on__ , it’ll go so much smoother if you’re there! Maybe she won’t kill me this time!”

  “ _ _Won’t kill you?__ ” Magnus scoffed, “how many years late are you __this__ time?”

  The warlock actually gulped audibly, “maybe a little bit late, yeah…”

  “ _ _How__  late?” he grumbled through his fingers. “Are we talking a hundred years late? Or is it closer to a thousand?”

  Emrys just made a small noise in his throat.

  Magnus’ head snapped up. “Oh, we’re __both__ dead!” he exclaimed.

  The Shadowhunters just sat there, watching the exchange between the warlocks. On any other day they’d feel out of the loop. But today had already been long and tiring - _ _it wasn’t even 3pm yet__  - and they didn’t have the patience to even ask what they were talking about. That much history? There could easily be hours of back-story to hear, before they’d even get to the point. There wasn’t any point in even attempting to understand. They both knew that …and __yet__ were unable, to simply block the conversation out. Even the little of the conversation they understood, was fascinating. __Even__  if just in the unusual way Magnus interacted with the strange warlock (strange even for an ancient warlock …Not that they knew many of those).

  “Well… __yeah.__  But if __you’re__  there she won’t-”

  “ _ _Yes__ , she will,” Magnus argued, expression close to pained, “she’ll just smile while she does it.”

  Emrys sagged slightly, “but if you-”

  “Emrys, hush,” he sighed lightly, his mouth fixed in a tight-lipped smile. It looked closer to a grimace, than a smile, like he was agreeing to something that - for anyone else - would cost a bloody fortune. “I’ll go with you. __Hopefully__ , she’ll be glad enough to see me that she’ll go easy on you. …Though I doubt it.”

  Magnus moved to the closest door-frame, moving to create a portal. But, before he could move a finger in the complex pattern required to form a portal (unless you’re a certain, irritating, legend-old warlock), Emrys stopped him.

  “One moment, there’s a few things I need first.”

  Then he rushed off, around the corner and out of sight.

  After a moment of light footfalls, there were some muffled crashing and rummaging-type noises.

  Magnus sighed and turned to the Lightwoods. “He’s raiding my supplies. Oh, that’s going to put a dent in the bank…” he explained, a pained look clear on his face.

  “ _ _I’LL RESTOCK IT!__ ” came the shouted reply…sounding awfully like his head was in a box. “How you can call this ‘supplies’ I’ve no idea,” he muttered a second after.

  A look meant to be irritated, but landing closer to exasperatedly-fond, was shot at the Lightwoods, followed with a muttered, “see what happens when you invite old friends back into your life? They bring an army into your home, scar your guests, act like they own the place __and__  insult your magical capabilities.”

  “I __do__ own the place,” he mumbled, stumbling into the room, arms full of… the Lightwoods didn’t even want to know __what__ , “and I’m not insulting your capabilities. I’m insulting your meagre demand of the skills we both know you have. You should find more interesting clients.”

  Magnus glared at him. “Are you ready to go yet?”

  “Yep,” he smiled widely, as if he hadn’t just insulted his friend and then confirmed he was, in fact, insulting his friend.

  “Can we go then? The sooner we get this over with the sooner- actually I don’t know why I’m so eager. It’s going to be painful no matter what.”

  “So pessimistic,” Emrys teased, despite his own face looking pained - more-so than Magnus’.

  The warlocks stepped through the shining portal and a moment later it closed, a breath of crisp, fresh air pushed through the room.

 


	8. Curiosity Killed The Cat...What About Shadowhunters?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Five chest of drawers, a human skull, several pairs of sparkly hot-pants, and far more lipstick or eye-liner than one man could ever need, let alone use, Alec and Izzy had come to the conclusion that Magnus wasn’t nearly as secretive as he pretends to be._

The Shadowhunters blinked.

  “Did… they just leave us here?” Alec asked the room, glancing around a little as if expecting this all to be a prank and they had in fact portaled only behind them.

  “…Seems like it,” Izzy frowned. Then grinned. “Want to go nosey through Magnus’ draws?”

  Alec looked at her. “There are…a __hundred__ reasons why that’s a bad idea. But most importantly; I want to say yes. It’s official. You’ve pulled me down to your level.”

  “All I heard was yes,” Izzy grinned, jumping up.

 

__*_ _ **_**_*_ ** _ ** __*_ _

 

Five chest of drawers, a human skull, __several__  pairs of sparkly hot-pants, and far more lipstick or eye-liner than one man could __ever__  need, let alone __use__ , Alec and Izzy had come to the conclusion that Magnus wasn’t nearly as secretive as he pretends to be.

  “Well… I’m going to get a drink, you want one?” Alec sighed, tossing what must be the fiftieth sparkly item of clothing back into a drawer and standing.

  “Like you need to ask,” Izzy chuckled, eyes wide as she stared into what looked like a sock drawer. Alec didn’t want to know; simply the thoughts manifesting his mind was __too much information.__  

  He was chuckling when he reached Magnus’ liquor cabinet. A shimmering section of air, almost like an invisible wall, caught his eye, freezing him for a moment. But it dissolved into flecks of dust, in the light beams that cut through the air, before Alec had time to start assuming anything. He stared, debating calling Izzy, or… well he wasn’t sure what. What had he even seen?

  Realising that, if it had been something threatening, Magnus’ wards would have gone off, Alec relaxed, shrugging and turning back to making drinks.

  “Alec!” his sister called a moment later, sounding…out of breath? “ _ _Alec!__ ”

  The almost desperate tone made Alec drop the drink he’d had in his hand and start running back towards his sister.

  “What? What is it?!” he huffed as he skidded around the corner, purely making the turn by his grip on the door frame.

  She looked up, a pout on her lips, until she saw her brother’s hair. “I can’t get this draw open!” she laughed.

  Alec’s shoulders heaved. “That’s it? I thought a demon had shown up or something!”

  “I can tell!” she continued to laugh.

  “Izzy-”

  “How about you open this drawer and I’ll go make the drinks?” she bargained.

  His face turned sour, “why? What’s in it?”

  “Nothing!” she defended automatically. “Uh… I don’t know. I can’t get it __open__!”

  Her brother sighed. “Fine.” When she was halfway through the door frame, he added, “you may need to clean up a bottle of tequila though.”

  She swore quietly.

  Alec turned to the drawer. It looked like a normal drawer… Well, a mahogany, engraved, hand crafted and probably hundreds of years old set of drawers. But otherwise pretty normal.

  “Izzy, what have you set me up for?” he grumbled. He’d faced a hoard of Shax demons, with only his short sword and a half-dead Jace; he could handle whatever Izzy had found in this drawer. …Probably.

  He gently put his hands on the intricately engraved handles (unconsciously so careful with Magnus’ things), pulled gently and- Nothing. Not even a budge.

  “Huh,” he mumbled. The thought, briefly, crossing his mind that maybe Izzy hadn’t in fact lied.

  He tugged. Still nothing. So he pulled. Then heaved. Then swore and blinded and pulled and tugged and heaved some more. Still __nada__. He tried pulling with all his might, he tried __asking__  it to open (this is __Magnus__ we’re talking about, after all), he even tried kicking it - in case it was one of those annoying backwards drawers that you have to push to open.

  “Bastard,” he muttered under his breath.

   _ _Wait…__

  He raised his hands slowly, placing just the tips of his fingers around the handles, and __slid__  the drawer out. Nice and gently.

  “ _ _Iz, I got it!__ ” he shouted, eyes leaving the drawer for a second.

  A second too long. A bright light escaped the drawer, blinding Alec despite his facing away from the source, and an electric current ran through his fingertips. He felt a rush of air, as if he was being thrown across the room, and finally a sharp, dull pain to the back of his head, before passing out.


	9. Secrets Among Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus frowned, "how didn’t I notice that!”
> 
>    _Because you have too many drawers full of just sparkles and eye-liner,_  Izzy thought, glancing between the two.
> 
>   “Uh, have you _seen_  your rooms? I don’t know how you keep track of _anything_!” Emrys muttered, obviously hiding something else. Magnus gave him a long, hard look, Emrys squirmed under it. “And maybe a little perception spell…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I _have_ edited this, but honestly I've read it so many times I'm probably missing a hundred mistakes.  
>  I'm going on holiday for a week without wifi so I won't be uploading (and I know I haven't for a while, sorry about that) but I will be editing this - hopefully I'll get another chapter or two sorted - so don't be surprised if there are some minor changes.  
> These chapters may disappear for a while when I get back while I edit them and repost the edited versions. If there are any glaring mistakes (and I know there are, I'm so sorry, I've read this so many times it's ridiculous) let me know and I'll fix them.  
> Enjoy this chapter! Things are starting to get interesting, we're nearly at my favorite bit!

Everything happened _so fast_.

  Only a second after Alec had called her, Izzy heard a piercing crackle, like an energy conductor over-loading, followed shortly by a heavy thud. One she could - unfortunately - identify as her brother hitting the floor, _hard_. Within thirty seconds she was in the room she’d left her brother in, within another twenty second she confirmed there were no intruders and was at her brother’s side. Hesitating for only a breath, she confirmed her suspicions; Alec was alive and breathing, but out cold, only a nasty bump on the back of his head as far as she could tell.

  “So why aren’t you waking up?” she mumbled, close to frantic. This was supposed to be a safe place…

  She ran her stele over his healing rune and it ignited. It’d worked. It’d healed him. Still he didn’t wake up; although his breathing evened out from the erratic rhythm it had been.

  “Alec!” she called, reduced to helpless shouting. She had no idea what had even happened. There were no traces of a demon having attacked, or a Circle member or… any trace of _anything_. “ _Alec, wake up!”_

  As she opened her mouth to shout again, she heard the shimmer of a portal, two sets of footsteps, and the groans of Magnus Bane, that she seemed to have become an expert on this morning.

  “ _MAGNUS! GET IN HERE!”_  she was close to shrieking, only now aware of the tears pooled under her chin and dripping onto her knees.

  Another breath of hesitation, before a flurry of movement. The warlocks ran full pelt towards the shout, not hesitating for even half a moment when they saw the two Lightwoods, a tangled mess on the floor. Alec was a heap of limbs, hair stuck out at all angles and slumped against the floor and wall in a way that could not be good for his back or neck. And Izzy, usually so elegant, had make-up streaming down her face in the trenches of the tears, clothes ruffled and wonky, her own hair a mess, not to mention the panicked, grief-stricken look painting her paled face.

  “What happened?” Emrys found time to ask, slowing just before reaching the two.

  Magnus, however, didn’t stop or slow or ask pointless questions, Izzy didn’t have answers to. He ran straight for the pair, the wall just beside Alec stopping his momentum. He placed his hands a few inches over Alec’s limp body and his hands glowed a light orange, while his cat eyes gleamed bright.

  “He’s okay,” Emrys said pointlessly, from just behind Izzy; no one was listening to him.

  “Magnus I-” Izzy almost sobbed, “I don’t know what happened! One moment he was fine, the next he’s unconscious and won’t wake up! I only left the room for a minute!”

  “It’s okay, pumpkin,” the warlock uttered soothingly, although his words and tone did not match up. His movements were stiff, probably only flowing, with the small elegance held, purely from willpower alone. His eyes were as hard as the line of his mouth, and Izzy could see the panicked tears pooling in his eyes, as clearly as she could feel hers, running down her cheeks.

  In the end, only a minute after, it was Emry’s hand, on Magnus’ shoulder, that brought them both back to reality.

  “Hey, snap out of it,” he spoke gently, and Magnus knew he was using Emotional Influence magic, but was too strung out to fight it. “He’s _okay_. Let’s take him to the Institute to keep an eye on him, and you’ll see. You’re no good to him, emotional and not thinking.”

  In a sharp intake of breath (and thanks to many years of constant training), Izzy hardened her exterior. The unfamiliar warlock was right. They were no use to Alec barely functioning. Although she couldn’t say his reassurance, reassured her any.

  “Emrys is right.”

  Izzy tried to ignore the hurt glare Magnus shot her, and push it aside to the warlock’s biggest weakness being her brother, but it still burnt like a fresh rune.

  “He can portal, right?” she asked the other warlock.

  Emrys’ face twisted slightly, but he covered it with a small smile. “He’ll be okay,” his voice firm with conviction.

  “Don’t just _tell me_  he’ll be okay, Emrys!” Magnus snapped, hands no longer surveying the damage, instead pulling Alec’s head into his lap. There were fresh tears in his eyes, but still they refused to fall.

  “Magnus,” he warned, “I’m on _your_ side.”

  “ _Are you!_ ” the warlock hissed fiercely, “it’s your fault we weren’t here! Its your fault-”

  “This isn’t helping anyone,” Izzy snapped herself, trying to focus on her brother. Once people start pointing fingers, everything goes wrong. She didn’t even want to _think_  about faults…

  Emrys’ hard eyes stayed locked on the near-weeping warlock for a moment longer (despite everything, Magnus hadn’t taken his eyes off Alec), but eventually forced his gaze to Izzy, softening his eyes. “What happened?”

  Magnus froze, as if the thought hadn’t even occurred to him. Hands absently stroking through Alec’s hair, his eyes snapped up to Izzy - thankfully much softer than they had been previously.

  “I-” Izzy stuttered, glancing at Magnus, debating hiding what they’d been doing. She cursed herself; she’s not some kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar, besides, this might help them save Alec!

  “Izzy?” Magnus asked, voice soft as fresh snow, but he looked confused and…disappointed.

  “We were snooping!” she blurted out, eyes scrunching shut in embarrassment.

  She heard Emrys gasp, and her eyes flew back open just in time to see the warlock backtrack Alec’s projection path.

  “The drawers,” he muttered, rushing over to them faster than Magnus had to Alec.

  Magnus frowned, peering at his friend suspiciously, “what drawers?”

  Emrys was muttering to himself now. From where Izzy was knelt, it looked like he’d pulled the drawers _she’d_ been unable to budge open like any other, and was now rummaging around in them.

  “Emrys,” Magnus called, irritably.

  His friend (not that he’d call him that in this moment) froze, back straightening, “yes?” he squeaked quietly.

  Izzy would forever ponder, how such a powerful warlock could seem so…tiny…

  “ _What_  drawers?” Magnus repeated, glaring at Emrys’ back, “I don’t enchant the drawers in here, I don’t see any need; they’re just drawers.”

  The way Magnus was glaring at Emrys reminded the conscious Shadowhunter of something Emrys had said earlier; _‘I_ do _own the place’._  She flicked through her memories, but didn’t remember Magnus correcting him. She watched, feeling rather out of her depth, as the two warlocks conversed, as if she shouldn’t be here for this…argument. But her brother was unconfirmed okay (she may think him charming, but she didn’t trust the strange warlock - especially now), she wasn’t leaving; if they wanted privacy they should leave themselves.

  “So maybe I… _commandeered_  a drawer or …shelf or two, I _own_  the building!” Emrys babbled, managing to look sheepish and annoyed all at once.

  Magnus blinked, going over this new reveal slowly. “Why didn’t you just use your own place?” he asked, like that was the most important thing from his friend’s statement. Izzy thought she’d never understand warlocks…

  “Because it’s not safe! Too many people know where I live - in this world… Besides even you didn’t think to look here!” he snaps, like ‘duh, Magnus! Use your brain, stupid!’

  “… _I_  don’t know where you live!” Magnus frowned. Then realised Emrys’ words, “wait, how didn’t I notice that!”

   _Because you have too many drawers full of just sparkles and eye-liner,_  Izzy thought, glancing between the two.

  “Uh, have you _seen_  your rooms? I don’t know how you keep track of _anything_!” Emrys muttered, obviously hiding something else. Magnus gave him a long, hard look, Emrys squirmed under it. “And maybe a little perception spell…”

  “What?” Izzy and Magnus muttered. Izzy thought it was more magic she didn’t understand, but, judging by Magnus’ look, Emrys was talking nonsense.

  “Uh, a little…thing I’ve been working on…” Emrys muttered, turning a rather impressive shade of light pink, “it’s a little spell that makes your brain not notice things…”

  Magnus huffed out an annoyed breath, and the Shadowhunter was half-expecting him to just knock Emrys over the head with a spell and leave _him_  unconscious on the floor. He didn’t, but she had half a mind to suggest it to him. “You’re telling me, that you created a spell - another one, by the way, and _really,_ did you not learn after last time? - a spell that _hides_ parts of my room to me?”

  Emrys’ shoulders sagged, and he seemed somehow even _smaller_ , “um…yes?”

  Magnus closed his eyes, begging for another ounce of patience for his friend. “What’s in the drawer? Why is Alec not waking up?” his voice was clipped, tightly controlled. He spoke slowly and only opened his eyes at the end, a silent warning that Emrys should answer his question (his last far more important than his first), or face pain of an angered warlock who’s long run out of patience.

  Emrys explained, in his overly roundabout way, that the contents were _‘his’_ (which Izzy didn’t understand, but apparently Magnus did, because he swiftly moved on) and that it was spelled to prevent unwanted entry but will not permanently harm the nosey-whoever - apparently he assumed Magnus would one day notice it and he didn’t want his friend to be left dead on his bedroom floor for, potentially, a long time - but will knock them out for possibly several hours.

  “He’ll be fine,” Emrys reassured for the thousandth time. Magnus’ hand had returned to snake through Alec’s hair.

  “We should take him back to the Institute, to keep an eye on his recovery,” Izzy suggested, shooting concerned glances at her brother. His chest was moving rhythmically, solidly up and down now.

  She could see in Magnus’ look his want to argue. He didn’t trust those at the Institute, let alone trust them with Alec. She could _hear_  his words of ‘he’d be far safer here!’ “I know,” she whispered softly, as if, if she spoke any louder, she would shatter the moment, “but they have the right equipment and medical staff to keep an eye on him. You can’t run yourself into the ground with worry. Besides,” she added with a light hearted smile, “if Alec doesn’t wake up, Emrys won’t get very far in an Institute full of warriors that love the goofy idiot, also known as my brother.”

  Magnus smiled thankfully at Izzy, both ignoring Emrys’ spluttering from across the room.


	10. Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>   Jace’s frown deepened further, on the edge of a scowl, “who are you again?”
> 
>   Emrys looked offended, gasping at Izzy as if it was her fault, “who am _I!?_  What sort of question is that!”
> 
>   “A pretty reasonable one I thought,” Magnus muttered.

They stepped into the Institute, Alec floating along in between Magnus and the old and creaky warlock, Izzy lead the way. They’d _almost_ made it to the infirmary before running into anyone.

  “Oh, Izzy. I thought you were out-” Maryse froze when she saw Emrys, close behind her daughter, “…for the…day… Emrys, what are you-” she froze again, when she saw Magnus. And her _son_. “What did you do?! Alec!”

  “Mum! _Mum_ , he’s okay!” Izzy shouted, stepping into her mother’s path.

  “He is, Maryse,” Magnus said softly.

  She shot him a glare. “Then what happened! Where are you taking him? Alec!”

  “Maryse,” Emrys stepped in, “how about you come _with_ us?”

  She blinked, confused and irate all at once.

  “We were on our way to the infirmary, Mum,” Izzy chirped in.

  “Well hurry up then!” Maryse snapped, but without her previous fire, her eyes locked on her beloved son.

  Of course they only made it a few more feet, before bumping into Jace.

  “Oh for-” Emrys rolled his eyes, shoving past the angry Shadowhunter, Alec and Magnus on his heel.

  “What’s happening?” Jace asked Izzy when she hurried after them.

  “Alec got hit with a spell,” she explained, “he’s fine, but we can keep a better eye on him in the infirmary.”

  Jace walked faster.

 

“Put him on the bed in the corner!”

  “Emrys, don’t snap at me,” Magnus muttered. But Alec landed softly on the bed.

  The two warlocks got to work, rushing around.

  “Where’s the vital scanner?” Emrys frowned, searching through the drawers at the end of the long room, throwing things aside and over his shoulder.

  “Uh, here,” Izzy said, stepping around the warlock to grab one of the ‘vital scanner’s - not that they called them that.

  Emrys didn’t say thank you, simply snatched the little box, and rushed back over to the bed, his long robes billowing around him. He attached it to Alec with practised ease.

  “What _are_  you doing?” Magnus muttered, hands halting in their movements to check Alec’s vitals. With _magic._

  Emrys paused, “what? It’s for the mundies,” he shrugged like it was obvious, “Izzy may believe us, but the other two won’t. I’d rather like to _not_  have my life threatened any more today, if that’s okay with you.”

  Magnus shot a look at the Shadowhunters over his shoulder, and nodded. He moved his body to block Alec from their view, and smoothed Alec’s hair with shaky fingers.

  Emrys leant over the bed, glancing fleetingly at the Shadowhunters, before uttering under his breath, “he will be okay. I swear, Magnus.” He placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder, “I wouldn’t let anything happen to him, you know that.”

  “What’s wrong with him?” Maryse snapped, heels clicking as she stomped to the foot of the bed. Nothing annoyed her more than warlocks that kept secrets. Well they _all_ did that - but right in front of her was where she drew a line.

  “Nothing,” Emrys declared, straightening and facing the Shadowhunters, “well…everything.”

  Magnus glared at him, straightening as well. “He’ll be fine. He just needs to rest.”

  “‘Rest and recuperate’? Seriously?” Jace scoffed.

  “Jace, just…give them a second,” Izzy frowned, but she was tapping her foot with unconscious nervous energy.

  “Ah! This is Jace then?” Emrys asked (although it sounded rhetorical), jumping around the bed, grinning goofily once more. “Heard a lot about you.”

  Jace frowned deeper, “you have?” He glanced at Izzy, who looked as confused as he felt.

  “Well…no. But, you know…” he shrugged one shoulder, face falling for only a moment before he grinned again. “Well?”

  “Well...what?” Jace muttered, blinking in confusion.

  “ _Well_ , tell me a bit about yourself! I’ve met a few Shadowhunters in my time, but they’re all different!” He looked pleased, like they were collectors items and he was determined to collect them all.

  Jace’s frown deepened further, on the edge of a scowl, “who are you again?”

  Emrys looked offended, gasping at Izzy as if it was her fault, “who am _I!?_  What sort of question is that!”

  “A pretty reasonable one I thought,” Magnus muttered from beside the bed.

  Jace snapped his head at the warlock, suddenly remembering the situation. “What is he doing?” he asked his sister, “what the _hell_  is going on?”

  Emrys sighed, as if irritated by the whole thing. “Alec and Izzy were snooping, Alec got hit with a defence spell, he’ll be fine in a few hours. _I’m_  Emrys, Magnus’ friend--”

  “Not right now you’re not.”

  “--and basically better half, better… better everything. Oh, and I dated your mum a bit, but I think she’d put a sword in me if I told you that,” Emrys made a face, as if considering his words - despite it being too late.

  Maryse made a tight noise in her throat and Jace’s eyes were wide as saucers.

  “It’s been a long day,” Izzy sighed, falling onto the bed beside Alec’s, eyes locked on her brother.

**Author's Note:**

> My [ tumblr. ](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/excaliburinthelakeonpage394)


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